Mirror Mirror - piano quintet

The advertising industry uses touched-up images of semi-naked models to sell everything from cars to carrots. In this way, the industry seeks to manipulate us into thinking we need expensive material possessions to be better, happier and more attractive people. The advertising industry often preys on people's insecurities, by overtly and covertly criticising others, dictating the correct way to dress, act and think in order to be considered an acceptable member of society. In fact, they are so busy reminding us of how much we don’t have and how inadequate we are, that it's a wonder anyone could be considered to feel much contentment at all! Based on these ideas, this musical work portrays a disintegration of the human ego/self under the influence of mass media advertising, which leads to confusion and breakdown. A later return to stability represents the cyclic pattern of desire, (temporary) happiness and emptiness to be had through the pursuit of material possessions.

The title makes reference to the famous line from Snow White:

"Mirror mirror on the wall, Who is the fairest of them all?"

Performance and Commission Information

Remembering Kindness for orchestra won the Dorian Le Gallienne Composition Award (2003). The prize for this award was a commission for a work for chamber group. Mirror Mirror was the chamber work composed for this commission. Originally written for 2 x violin I, 2 x violin II, 2 x viola, cello and piano, the work was later arranged for piano quintet and first performed by Marianne Broadfoot (Violin I), Kerry Martin (Violin II), Joanna Tobin (Viola), Clare Kahn (Cello) and Lindsay Gilroy (Piano), in a concert tour entitled Lucid Dreaming, a concert of works by Katherine Rawlings (on the 10th of February 2006 in the Music Workshop at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music).